Overview:Students experience one mechanism for evolution through a simulation that models the principles of natural selection and helps answer the question: How might biological change have occurred and been reinforced over time?

Author/Source:National Academy of Sciences

Grade level:13-16

Time:Three class periods.

Teaching tips:After 3 generations, change cloth pattern under petri dish to something that makes dots easier to see, or harder to see. Use this to show that evolution doesn’t lead to one best solution, but responds to the environment.